Alexander Cruikshank of Stracathro

Awarded the compensation for the enslaved people on Hague and Groenveld & Tenez Ferme in British Guiana, probably after a settlement with the mortgagee counterclaimants, and claimed unsuccessfully for Belmont in St Vincent. For Rabaca on St Vincent, he had registered jointly with Alexander Cumming in 1817, then in his own name 1822-1827, before that estate appears to have become wholly-owned by Cumming.

1. Alexander Cruikshank of Stracathro was listed as a subscriber to Charles Shephard's An Historical Account of the Island of Saint Vincent, published in 1832.

2. Alexander Cruikshank of Stracathro, Angus (paternal uncle of Alexander Cruikshank junior of Keithock, q.v.). In the 1840s Alexander Cruikshank, by then the owner of Windsor Forest, La Grange and Ruimzight, died in Demerary: his executors were three Scots and the London merchant James B[ogle] Smith, who is interwoven with the family awards in St Vincent as well as these two awards to Alexander Cruikshank in British Guiana, on both of which James Bogle Smith and others counterclaimed as mortgagees (and probably took at least part of the compensation in a consensual settlement). Alexander Cruikshank was the same man who claimed as owner-in-fee of Belmont in St Vincent, for which the compensation went to James Bogle Smith (q.v.) and others.

3. Will of Alexander Cruikshank of Stracathro proved 10/4/1847. In the will he specifies his estates in Demerara and Essequibo as the Hague, Groenveld, La Grange, Windsor Forest and Tenez-Ferme; and on St Vincent as Belmont. A 19th century antiquarian source says of him: ''....also made his fortune in the West Indies - purchased the barony of Stracathro in three parts, from the husbands of the co-heiresses, daughters of his brother Patrick Cruikshank of Stracathro...His affairs eventually got embarrassed - and he returned to Demerara, where he shortly afterwards met his demise, leaving a son and daugher. Stracathro was afterwards sold by his Trustees to Sir James Campbell.' His will in fact appears to name five children: Amy Lindsay, widow, whom he described as his only child by his wife Ann Gurley; Catharine; Donald; Andrew Rose; and John Alexander.

T71/885 British Guiana claim nos. 697 (Hague) and 700 (Groenveld & Tenez Ferme).

1. Charles Shephard, An Historical Account of the Island of Saint Vincent (1832) pp. vii-xii.

2. London Gazette, Issue 20618, 30/06/1846, p. 2432; T71/892 St Vincent claim no. 597.   

3. PROB 11/2054/20; David McGregor Peter, The Baronage of Angus and Mearns (Oliver & Boyd, 1856), extracts published at http://gocruikshanks.com [accessed 20/07/2012].

We are grateful to Colin Cornes for his assistance with compiling this entry.